the best pork chops with fresh bay salt, crackling and squashed purple potatoes

servings
4

method

I have to be honest – once you’ve eaten pork in Italy you have to really look around for anything as fine over here. You see, we’ve become attracted to breeds of pigs that grow very fast to be butchered and sold on a.s.a.p., whereas our old farming methods used breeds that are now considered rare. They take longer to grow to maturity, which gives the meat a fantastic depth of flavor and plenty of snowy white, waxy fat that just melts in the pan. Once you’ve tried that, everything else comes second best.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Parboil your potatoes in salted boiling water for around 15 minutes until tender, then drain. Score the pork skin, season it and put it in a hot roasting tray with a drizzle of olive oil. As it begins to crisp up, add your potatoes and thyme. Toss once or twice (making sure the crackling ends up on top of the potatoes so it crisps up even more) and put in the oven for around 15 minutes until cooked.

Meanwhile, pound up your fennel seeds and bay leaves in a pestle and mortar with 2 tablespoons of salt until you have a fine green moist paste. Shake this through a sieve into a bowl – this will stop it from sticking together in lumps. Pat your pork chops with a little oil – this will stop them sticking to the pan. Season the pork chops on both sides with the herb salt and keep any excess to use another day. Preheat your griddle pan until really hot. Don’t add any extra oil to the pan – if you do it will start to smoke. Add your pork chops, and cook for around 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the pork. Try to avoid the temptation to overcook them. Once cooked allow to rest for about 4 minutes.

Heat a little pan and add the cider and mustard. Bring to the boil, then reduce by half and add the crème fraîche. Bring back to the boil and reduce again until the sauce thickens, then remove from the heat. Add the butter and shake the pan around a bit so the sauce thickens and shines. Season to taste.

Serve up the potatoes – I like to bash up half of them so they kind of smash and crumble – with the pork, a lovely piece of crackling and any resting juices from the meat. Drizzle over the cider sauce and eat – what a pleasure. Nice with a simple green salad and a pint of cider.

• from Jamie's Kitchen

ingredients

• 1kg/2¼lb purple or Desirée potatoes, peeled and halved
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 pork chops, skin removed but kept
extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 10 bay leaves
• 285ml (1/2 pint) cider
• 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
• 4 tablespoons crème fraîche
• 2 knobs of butter

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Anton from Moscow on Tue 07 Jun 2011 @ 12:43

To Karen from rural Australia: cre'me frai'che = sour cream)

2. by Karen on Tue 12 Apr 2011 @ 08:17

As I'm from rural Australia I havn't been able to purchase cre'me frai'che, could someone tell me what it is ? and what I could use as a substitute. Thanks, happy cooking. Karen

3. by Paula on Sun 10 Apr 2011 @ 17:18

Hello There I writing to you from a gorgeous Portuguese island called Madeira, for years i have been a fan of Jamie. The way he cooks fascinates me. There are a lot of good chefs out there but Jamie i have to say "you're the best" I know that my chances of ever meeting Jamie are totally 0 but dreaming is what i do best , (next to cooking, osscourse). So i will keep on dreaming and who knows Paula Veiga

4. by barbara on Tue 17 Feb 2009 @ 11:25

Did i put too much of the bay leaf salt on the chops I used nearly all of it and the chops were soooooooo salty they were spoilt - the cider sauce was lovely though!

5. by amancalledprak on Fri 30 Jan 2009 @ 01:13

@ el

Guessing from your terminology, the "cider" you canned in the "fall" is quite possibly not what the recipe intends. In British English "cider" always refers to "hard cider". Apple juice or similar will obviously make a decent substitute, but using a fermented product will give a different range of flavours. Happy eating anyway!

6. by Marque on Sun 04 Jan 2009 @ 09:20

Truly delicious especially with mash and 2 veg. Silence hit the dinner table

7. by el on Sat 03 Jan 2009 @ 17:55

This was the first meal that I prepared from the whole pig we just bought. It was absolutely beautiful. The cider sauce is my new favorite condiment and the perfect use for all that cider I canned this fall. Thanks!

Also, my spice grinder did a fine job on the bay leaf salt mixture.

8. by Heather on Sat 15 Mar 2008 @ 19:34

Delicious meal although I found the timing a bit tricky. I think the bay leaf salt could be prepared in advance. Perhaps I used too old bay leaves but I found the pestel and mortar impossible. A hand blender followed by sieving did the trick. I am not sure if the crackling should be cooked for a while before adding the potatoes as it wasn't as crunchy after the 15 minutes as it could have been.

9. by K on Mon 10 Mar 2008 @ 04:17

Fantastic, such great flavor from a dish that isn't complex. Love the simplicity of the sauce.

Have used many of your recipes, all wonderful for an amatuer such as myself!

10. by I LOVE U JAMIE OLIVER on Sun 02 Dec 2007 @ 02:29

I LOVE U JAMIE THIS CHOP TASTED SOOOOOOO GOOOD

11. by Sue Woollard on Sun 11 Nov 2007 @ 17:09

Hi Jamie,

Have to agree about the quality of the pork as the best ever roast pork and crackling I tasted was on a hog roast at your mate Jimmy's farm.
Nothing else comes close.

12. by Pineapple on Tue 09 Oct 2007 @ 15:34

I am working my way down your list of recipies on this website - to my big deligth,-) I don't normally eat pork - I think it smells bad when I cook it BUT this pork is just outstanding. You have converted me! The bay leaf salt is so excellent

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